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30 October 2015

Non Fiction review: Secret Garden Artist's Edition by Johanna Basford

"From the artist and the publisher that brought you the hugely successful Secret Garden and Enchanted Forest - this special artist's edition features 20 beautiful, pull out art prints for colouring in. Colouring fans of all ages will enjoy immersing themselves in a selection of the most popular artworks from the original book, now presented in a new, large-scale format for maximum colouring enjoyment. Each detailed illustration is printed on high-quality card and can be removed easily for framing or craft projects."

I know I don't usually review non fiction books on here, but this is something that has recently peaked my attention, and I couldn't resist the chance when the publishers sent me a review copy. I love colouring in - it's something I always loved as a child, so when the new craze for adult colouring books came out, I quickly jumped on board. I grabbed myself a copy of both of Johanna Basford's successful colouring books Secret Garden and Enchanted Forest and set to work, thoroughly enjoying both the colouring in, and creating a glorious image all of my own doing.

Due to the popularity of the books, Johanna's publishers have come up with the idea of an artist's edition of her first book, Secret Garden. This features a selection of the best loved pictures from the colouring book, printed on only one side of the paper, with a perforation down the side so that they can easily be removed and displayed around your home. I found the images were of a very high quality, certainly some of my favourite images from the original book although there were a couple missing that I would have loved to see in this book.

The quality of the paper here feels slightly better than in the original colouring book. I have used both colouring pencils (just from WH Smith, nothing fancy or expensive), and my Staedtler fine liners (my pen of choice for colouring in), and I have found both great on the paper. There is no bleeding, it doesn't show through to the back side of the paper, so it's certainly worth investing in something a bit bolder, especially if these images are going to be featured on your wall.

For those more serious about colouring in, and especially for those who want to display their colouring in, or simply removing it from the book for ease of colouring, this artist's edition of Johanna Basford's successful first book is definitely worth investing in. With great quality paper, a wonderful selection of images that are of a great size, this is definitely a colouring book that I am proud to own, and I'll be looking out for Johanna's other books as artist's editions too.